Category: I’m Damaged Goods

Romans 8:14-16 (NIV) – For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Soak in the amazing truth that God loves you as demonstrated on the cross. No one and no thing can take away your identity in Christ because you belong to him. As children of God, we don’t have to be defined by past mistakes or wounds. Instead, let the Spirit lead you to cry out, “Abba, Father.” Take time to pray through the above passage. Declare who you are and whose you are as you worship with “Here I Bow” (Click here) by Brian and Jenn Johnson.

– JH

1 John 4:10 (NIV) – This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

“The uniqueness of Jesus Christ is foundational in Christian theology… God himself stepped into humanity in the person of Jesus, making Jesus a unique human being, uniquely qualified to pay the penalty for the fallen human race. God himself was willing to be sacrificed on the cross, to experience human life and death; such is his love for us.” [Karen Jobes, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament – 1, 2, and 3 John]

God loves us and cares a lot more than we realize about the damage we’ve experienced. That’s why Jesus died. An incredible price has been paid for all our wrongs – the one and only Son’s life. It’s not an easy or cheap forgiveness, but a costly one. We can forgive and be reconciled to God and to one another, because the unique person of Jesus (God himself) paid the ultimate price for all humanity. God alone could do this and has achieved victory over brokenness, separation and death. Instead of the effects of sin and its damage, we can live freely and fully in God’s love through his atoning sacrifice.

Take time to offer your heart to the Lord, especially any hurt, anxiety, loneliness, anger, etc. caused by your past that are affecting you. Let the impact of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and God’s love free you as you worship with the song “Holy Gound” (Click here) by Passion.

– JH

1 John 4:9 (NIV) – This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

“God’s love is not contingent on the circumstances of our lives. Good things may happen; bad things may happen; but God’s constant, eternal love remains unchanged because of the cross, which stands unchangeable throughout all of human history.” [Karen Jobes, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament – 1, 2, and 3 John]

Our past shapes our present and future. People wonder about God’s love because of their experiences and difficulties, even to the point that it becomes debilitating. But we have an even greater past reality. God loves us so much that he sent his one and only Son. While we may have experienced incredible pain by a broken past, “God’s constant, eternal love remains unchanged because of the cross.” The cross serves as an anchor for us whenever we feel unloved. May we see that we have an overwhelming love in Christ, who came into the world to shape our present. It’s so “that we might live through him” in a relationship with God as the Father we’ve always needed.

Today, come to the Father to receive his love, restoration, healing, and transformation for your past, present, and future as you worship with “The Father’s Song” (Click here) by Matt Redman.

– JH

1 John 4:8 (NIV) – Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

“When verse 8 says “God is love” (cf. v. 16), it is important to note what John is not saying. He is not saying that “God is loving” (though this is true). Nor is he saying that one of God’s activities is “to love” us (though this is true as well). John is saying that God is love, that “all of his activity is loving.” Love is the essence of his being. But the reverse is not the case. We cannot say, in other words, that “love is God,” as if any display of affection suddenly qualifies as divine. John is carefully defining the character of who God is and what it means to live in relation to him.” [Gary Burge, The NIV Application Commentary – The Letters of John]

Because of a painful relationship or lack of relationship in our childhood, we often question God’s love for us and are damaged in the sense that we don’t know how to be loved. This can play itself out in our lives without us realizing.

Take time to honestly offer and open your heart to God. Receive that “all of his activity is loving”, and let the Father heal those areas in your life that need his unique and powerful love. As you place your trust in God for those areas, worship to “Not Afraid” (Click here) by Jesus Culture.

– JH

Ephesians 3:14-19 (NIV) – For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

“Prayer brings together love and power: the relation of love that grows up between God and the person who prays, and the flowing of power from God to, and especially through, that person. That is what Paul’s prayer here is all about. Essentially, it is a prayer that the young Christians may discover the heart of what it means to be a Christian. It means knowing God as the all-loving, all-powerful father; it means putting down roots into that love — or, changing the picture, having that love as the rock-solid foundation for every aspect of one’s life.” [N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone – The Prison Letters, pp. 38-39]

When’s the last time you’ve been loved like in the passage above? Knowing the all-loving, all-powerful Father means we experience a love like no other – a love that surpasses knowledge and is all together powerful in making us alive. Pray through the above passage and worship with “Pray” (Click here) by Worship Central.

– JH